I shot this from the tower of
the Cathedral just after Christmas 1970. - J.J. Woods*

Map of Courthouse

The
image on the left is 87 Tullow street shows the entrance to Lawry's
Lane. Note the red car coming out of Dempsey's store yard in the photo
above on the left; this was the Tullow Street entrance for Lawry's
Lane which is now called Cathedral Place. The map images are
from OSi Mapviewer.

J.J. Woods photo: from the bottom of the picture -the first row of
houses are what remained of Lowry's Lane in 1970. The adjoining
yard with all the overgrowth belonged to the Purcell family. The yard
at the top of the photo, alongside Purcell's, was in the ownership of
Ina Brennan.

Lawry's (Lowry's)
Lane used to go through what is now St. Patrick's college to the old
Dublin road somewhere opposite or near the Courthouse.

During the 1798 rising
some of the united Irishmen escaped through the lane from Tullow
street.

This is
another item of Carlow history that should be highlighted for locals
and tourists.

Lowry's
Lane is now the store yard adjoining and owned by Dempsey's Hardware
shop on Tullow Street. Carlow.

If you walked in to Dempsey's yard through the vehicle gateway
beside the shop entrance in the 1960's you would see the remains of
two rows of houses, these were no longer dwellings but were used by
the Dempsey family business for storage of "everything from a needle
to an anchor", since then the houses have been demolished and various
sheds erected. In my earlier contribution I mentioned the Courthouse,
this was only to give some sense of direction, the Courthouse was
built well after 1798. Lowery's lane may have run parallel to School
Lane ? Perhaps a visit to Dempsey's shop and a word with one of the
family might lead to some photographs of the old lane, its worth a
try.